Friday Talking Points -- A Long Two Years And A Long Two Weeks

[ChrisWeigant]

Let's start with some good news this week, because we could all use some, right? Two years ago today Tom Hanks announced to the world he had contracted COVID-19, on the same day that the virus people were then largely calling "the novel coronavirus" was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. This was when it all hit home for many -- that this could quite possibly be a very big deal indeed, even though the president of the United States was desperately trying to get the American public to believe otherwise. Salon provides a good rundown of what we all went through next:

We were soon learning new phrases like "social distancing" and "flatten the curve" and started wearing make-shift masks everywhere, hoarding toilet paper and inexplicably sterilizing our canned goods. Quarantined in our homes watching the horror unfold on TV, seeing the hospitals and morgues over flowing, bodies being stored in refrigerator trucks. Watching the case numbers grow exponentially was bizarre and disorienting. Many Americans still had to go out into the world and do their jobs. Health care workers, grocery store clerks, delivery drivers, cops and food providers were forced to expose themselves and their families to this deadly plague every day just to keep the country going. Many of them died.

The unemployment rate went from 4.4% in March to 14.7% in April. The stock market fell out of bed repeatedly, schools and businesses closed, and a whole lot of people started getting very sick and dying. None of us had ever been through anything like it.

We learned very quickly that the nation was unprepared for a public health emergency like this. The consolidation of hospitals in recent years resulting in fewer beds for more people left us extremely vulnerable to a mass illness event and our lack of supplies and inability to get the ones we had to where they were needed was a clear national disgrace, all of which was exacerbated by the sheer ineptitude of the Trump administration's federal response.

Two years ago today, the number of cases in this country had just topped 1,000. A total of 29 Americans had died of it. Today, the country's grim death toll is approaching 1,000,000. The total number of cases has topped a jaw-dropping 80,000,000. And it's still not over -- roughly 1,500 Americans still die of COVID-19 every day.

But the good news is that we have weathered all the waves of the virus, the numbers have plummeted since the Omicron peak and they're all still headed downwards (the death rate, always a lagging indicator, will be the last to fully fall). In numeric terms, we are approximately where we were last May. Remember the start of last summer? That is pretty much what we are approaching now -- all the mandates have either been ended or will soon end, people are breathing a sigh of relief and returning to some sense of normalcy, and we're all sick and tired of dealing with the pandemic. Of course, that is an instructive parallel since even though by July the numbers had all dropped to very reassuring lows, Delta was still waiting to pounce. Another variant could come along at any point, and there's no guarantee it will be less lethal (as Omicron thankfully turned out to be).

Even so, it has been a very long and very hard two years, and we deserve at least a cautious sense of optimism that the whole thing could be over -- or "over enough" for things to get back to normal again at least for a while. And that's a good thing to contemplate, especially when all the rest of the news is so grim.

Speaking of grim news, the war in Ukraine is only a day over two weeks old, but it also seems like it has been going on a lot longer than it actually has. It is turning into a very slow slog where Russia makes small advances but at a very high cost. The ineffectiveness of their military, which should by all rights be dominating the Ukrainians by now, is a subject of speculation among experts. Perhaps it is due to the soldiers not exactly being motivated to shell civilians indiscriminately -- loss (or absence) of good morale can sap an army's strength from within. Perhaps it is due to all the Russian military and governmental leaders treating the country's military budget as their own private piggy bank (the amount of corruption in their supply chains is rather legendary). Perhaps it is due to garden-variety corruption from the suppliers themselves, in a country with no independent media to expose such things. Perhaps the Red Army just was never as good as they were cracked up to be. Perhaps the Ukrainians' fierce resistance and sky-high motivation to fight has surprised them so much that their blitzkrieg war plan fell apart without any Plan B in place. But no matter what the real reason, the fact remains that the Russian military has performed pretty poorly in what was supposed to be a very easy cakewalk for them. This has heartened not only the Ukrainians fighting them but the entire free world as well. Everybody likes to cheer for the underdog, after all.

This all could change, however. The Russians still have an overwhelming advantage just in terms of size. If the Ukrainians are making them pay a very high price, well, they can afford to pay it for quite some time. They can replace destroyed equipment and dead, wounded, or captured soldiers without much trouble at all. So the outcome isn't guaranteed. The underdog still may lose in the end, with all of Ukraine's cities in absolute ruin. If Putin is ruthless enough, he can turn Kyiv or any other city into rubble, given enough time, enough bombs, enough missiles, and enough artillery shells. Which he seems entirely willing to do.

Here in America, the war has largely united the country. There simply is no question who the bad guys and the good guys are in this fight. There is (as Liz Cheney put it this week) a "Putin wing" of the Republican Party, to be sure, but they've mostly been pretty quiet since the fighting began. With a few notable exceptions, of course, starting with Donald Trump, who still refuses to call Putin "evil," even after Sean Hannity practically begged him to. And there are still Republicans so addled with Putin-envy that they will still spout Russian propaganda ("Ukraine is creating biological weapons! Putin had to invade!" ) or publicly say things like:

Remember that [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy is a thug. Remember that the Ukrainian government is incredibly corrupt, and it is incredibly evil, and it has been pushing woke ideologies.

That's Representative Madison Cawthorn, speaking to a group of supporters this week. As of this writing, we are unaware of any prominent Republican who has denounced Cawthorn's words. As Cheney said, a pro-Putin wing of the Republican Party does indeed exist, even if most of them are being very quiet right now.

In fact, some of them are even using the "soft on Putin" charge against their fellow Republicans. Down in North Carolina, former governor Pat McCrory has released a campaign ad ripping into his Trump-endorsed opponent for his praise of Putin. So we'll have to see if this is the start of the trend, as primary season heats up in the GOP.

Over on the Democratic side of things there are no Putin apologists, unless you count the likes of Tulsi Gabbard, which we don't (we just don't consider her influential in any way shape or form and we have our doubts about her even being a Democrat, if truth be told). However, there was one snafu this week that was rather embarrassing.

Last weekend, Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave a "green light" to Poland to transfer some MiG-29 fighter jets to the Ukraine military. He did so during an interview on Sunday morning, for all the world to see. But then days later, the Pentagon and White House pronounced the whole effort a non-starter and any possible deal fell apart.

Now, there is an argument to make for not provoking Putin by this transfer. Personally, however, we do not buy it. We wrote our reasoning out earlier in the week, just before the total "red light" was flashed by Team Biden. And perhaps it would have actually happened if it hadn't been for the Europeans announcing the plan in public before it happened, who knows? It would have been a lot easier if the plan had remained secret until after the planes were already flying over Kyiv, but that opportunity was lost.

Even so -- no matter how you feel about the idea -- what nobody has bothered to explain at all (at least, that we have seen) is how the secretary of state could say that publicly without speaking for the president himself. Did he "get out over his skis"? This is doubtful, since all cabinet members know full well what they're supposed to say when they agree to such Sunday-morning interviews. Either Blinken had checked with the White House and they had no problem with his statement at the time or he failed to check with them and should apologize for misstating the president's position. But he hasn't done so, and as far as I can tell, no reporter has bothered to dig out this discrepancy in policy. Which really should happen, one way or another. Leaving Blinken's credibility as a speaker for the president on the world stage at this particular moment in time is downright dangerous, one would think.

In other war news, President Biden halted Russian oil and gas from being shipped to America, and just today announced he would seek to overturn Russia's "Most-Favored Nation" trade status. The consequences for Vladimir Putin and Russia just keep ramping up, in other words. Worldwide corporations are fleeing Russia in a stampede, as well, which might just bring the Russian economy back to Soviet-era living standards. And the 1980s were a pretty bad time in their particular history.

Ever since giving his State Of The Union speech right after the invasion had begun, Biden's poll numbers have been turning upwards, which is good news for him and for his fellow Democrats. Not enough polls have happened to tell whether this will increase or only be a modest boost, or whether it will be a lasting phenomenon or temporary, but it is the first movement upward in the polls for Biden in a while, so it is a positive thing to see.

Donald Trump, meanwhile, told a group of donors what he would be doing right now if he were still in charge: paint out the U.S. flag on a bunch of American fighters, paint a Chinese flag in its place, and then fly them over and use them to "bomb the shit" out of Russia. No, really:

Former president Donald Trump mused Saturday to the GOP's top donors that the United States should label its F-22 planes with the Chinese flag and "bomb the s--t out of Russia."

. . .

"And then we say, China did it, we didn't do it, China did it, and then they start fighting with each other and we sit back and watch," he said of labeling U.S. military planes with Chinese flags and bombing Russia, which was met with laughter from the crowd of donors, according to a recording of the speech obtained by The Washington Post.

But getting back to the good news of the week... Congress actually passed an omnibus budget bill, which is notable because for once they actually met one of their deadlines instead of having to punt the ball another four or five days to get it done. But it's not really all that impressive when you consider the original deadline was the start of last October, when this budget really should have been in place. Even so, it does represent the first budget Biden and the Democratic Congress put together (instead of just automatically extending the last budget Trump passed, as was the case up until now). So this was a legislative win, for Democrats and for Biden.

More good news: after over 100 years of trying, a federal antilynching bill finally passed Congress. The vote was 422-3 in the House and unanimous in the Senate. Makes you wonder what took so long, eh? Here was Chuck Schumer's reaction:

"After more than 200 failed attempts to outlaw lynching, Congress is finally succeeding in taking the long overdue action by passing the Emmett Till Antilynching Act. Hallelujah. It's long overdue," said Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in remarks on the Senate floor after the bill's passage.

That it took so long to pass is a "bitter stain" on America, the New York Democrat added.

"The first antilynching legislation was introduced a century ago, and after so long, the Senate has now finally addressed one of the most shameful elements of this nation's past by making lynching a federal crime," he said.

The legislation is named in honor of 14-year-old Emmett Till, who was brutally murdered in a racist attack in Mississippi in 1955, an event that drew national attention to the atrocities and violence that African Americans faced in the United States and became a civil rights rallying cry.

We have to admit while "better late than never" sprang to mind to describe how we feel, in fact another phrase fits a whole lot better: "justice delayed is justice denied."

And finally, some downright excellent news to close on. Not only did Democrats win a big Supreme Court victory against Republican attempts to gerrymander their state maps in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, but when all the dust has settled, it looks like an unbelievably fair playing field for the midterm House elections nationwide. Here's the whole story:

For years, America's congressional map favored Republicans over Democrats.

But that may not remain the case for long.

In a departure from a decades-long pattern in American politics, this year's national congressional map is poised to be balanced between the two parties, with a nearly equal number of districts that are expected to lean Democratic and Republican for the first time in more than 50 years.

Despite the persistence of partisan gerrymandering, between 216 and 219 congressional districts, out of the 435 nationwide, appear likely to tilt toward the Democrats, according to a New York Times analysis based on recent presidential election results. An identical 216 to 219 districts appear likely to tilt toward Republicans, if the maps enacted so far withstand legal challenges. To reach a majority, a party needs to secure 218 districts.

The surprisingly fair map defies the expectations of many analysts, who had believed that the Republicans would use the redistricting process to build an overwhelming structural advantage in the House, as they did a decade ago.

As recently as a few months ago, it had seemed likely that Republicans could flip the six seats they needed to retake the House through redistricting alone. Instead, the number of Republican-tilting districts that voted for Donald J. Trump at a higher rate than the nation is poised to decline significantly, from 228 to a figure that could amount to fewer than the 218 seats needed for a majority.

Democrats could claim their first such advantage since the 1960s, when the Supreme Court's "one person, one vote" ruling and the enactment of the Voting Rights Act inaugurated the modern era of redistricting.

There isn't any one reason in particular Democrats didn't get wiped out in the mapmaking, but instead several factors. The courts threw out the worst GOP gerrymanders, both sides gerrymandered aggressively where they could (rather than Democrats sitting back and letting the Republicans get away with it), and more and more states have non-partisan groups setting the maps, leaving less chances for such shenanigans. But one big factor was the surprising shift in suburban voters under Trump -- because districts the GOP previously considered safe suddenly weren't, so they had to use their gerrymandering efforts more in defense than in offense.

Whatever the ultimate reason, it means that Democrats will have a fighting chance at proving all the "they're going to lose at least the House" inside-the-Beltway conventional wisdom this November.

And that is mighty good news indeed.





We have to at least acknowledge that Vice President Kamala Harris has been at the center of the diplomatic efforts in NATO countries this week, which has put her on the world stage in the midst of a war. So far she seems to be doing a good job listening to and reassuring our allies, so she deserves at least an Honorable Mention for all her travels.

But this week we are doing something unprecedented with our main award. We are changing the capitalization, for one week only. Because this week the award we are handing out will be for the Most Impressive democrat Of The Week. This is non-standard (by our very own stylebook), but highlights the unique nature of this award. Because we are handing our first-ever MIdOTW to none other than Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

We should also note (since we're explaining stylebook subjects) that we spell his name in the Ukrainian fashion, with a double-y at the end. This is all part of moving away from Russian terminology like "the Ukraine" and "Kiev," and as such is more than a little symbolic.

Zelenskyy is, as many have noted, a former comedian. But unlike most comedians, he actually earned a law degree before he started his showbiz career -- which is impressive. He went on to many acting gigs (including dubbing the Ukrainian voice of Paddington Bear in both recent movies), including starring in a hit show where he played an average guy who became the president of Ukraine. Life imitated art, and he actually did get elected president in 2019. It be akin to Julia Louis Dreyfus or perhaps Martin Sheen getting elected in America (or even, as many have pointed out, a washed-up reality show host).

But Zelenskyy is no joke as Ukraine's president. He famously refused to knuckle under to Donald Trump threatening to withhold necessary military aid unless Zelenskyy dug up some dirt on Hunter Biden, which featured prominently in Trump's second impeachment. Zelenskyy was at the other end of Trump's "perfect phone call," in case anyone has forgotten.

Since the invasion began, Zelenskyy has heroically led his people. He refused to leave Kyiv and fly to a safer spot further west (or even out of the country entirely), instead he stayed behind to show he and his country were unafraid of Putin's bullying. By doing so he didn't just inspire his people to a level not seen since Winston Churchill's time, he also inspired the entire world as a genuine hero of democracy.

Zelenskyy even achieved the impossible right here at home -- because he has united the American public in a way not seen since the days following 9/11. Very few people are defending Russia or Putin these days (although there are always a few, over on the far right). Public support for Zelenskyy is deep and unified. As we said, that is pretty impressive to see in our own perpetually-divided nation.

For personally being the beacon of hope and the champion of democracy worldwide, we hereby award Volodymyr Zelenskyy our first-ever Most Impressive democrat Of The Week award. Stay strong, and stay safe. We're all behind you on this one.

[We don't believe we've ever given an award to a foreign politician, but we have to say our inclination is that it would be improper for us to provide contact information for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, so you'll have to figure out another way to show him your support. Besides, he's got more important things to do right now than to read fanmail on social media anyway.]





The budget just passed by Congress will finally shift the spending priorities of the federal government from Donald Trump's agenda to Joe Biden's. However, since the massive bill was haggled over until the last minute, a few little-noticed things got either left out or inserted at the last minute (as always). And we were shocked to learn about one of them.

Which is why we regretfully have to award President Joe Biden this week's Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week. Because it seems the old drug warrior mentality in Biden has yet to evolve, especially on the War On Weed. Biden continues to stand in the way of changes that really need to be made, which we consider downright shameful (especially with a Democratic Congress).

Here is the sad story, from Politico:

A rider which prevents [Washington] D.C. from establishing a regulated cannabis market -- commonly known as the Harris Rider -- was left in the omnibus funding bill, H.R. 2471, released on Wednesday. It came as a surprise to some advocates, because it was not included in funding packages put forth by the House and Senate. However, President Joe Biden's proposed budget did include the controversial provision.

This leaves marijuana legal in D.C., but without a legal marketplace. Meaning the city cannot tax it or regulate it and people cannot legally buy or sell it. The situation is insane, to put it mildly. All to assuage drug warriors in Congress (and in the White House, apparently) that they are not "soft on drugs." Or something. We thought that sort of attitude was long gone, but apparently not.

But it gets worse. Because the bill also refused to make one particular change that could have sweeping ramifications if any future White House (or this one, for that matter) decides to launch a crackdown from the Justice Department on legal recreational marketplaces in general:

The omnibus spending package also failed to extend protections for state legal markets. Since 2014, there's been a prohibition on spending federal dollars to crack down on state medical markets. The budget package that passed the House extended those protections to adult-use markets, but that provision didn't make the final bill.

Democratic leaders have vowed to eliminate federal marijuana penalties, boosting hopes in the $25 billion industry. But so far Congress hasn't done anything to loosen restrictions despite the fact that 37 states now have legal medical or recreational markets.

Let's put that another way, shall we? Three-fourths of the United States are essentially ignoring federal marijuana laws. They have legalized either medical or recreational use. The federal government still classifies marijuana as "having no accepted medical use" at all. They have not changed this designation since the War On Weed began, all evidence to the contrary. Personally, we think that three-fourths of the states passing laws allowing its use fits the definition of "accepted," but sadly this will not change one iota of federal law.

We have long had our doubts about Joe Biden's ability to evolve on marijuana anywhere near as fast as he famously evolved on the subject of gay marriage. So while we have to say we weren't entirely surprised by these moves, we were still pretty disappointed. Which is why we're handing Biden this week's MDDOTW.

[Contact President Joe Biden on his official contact page, to let him know what you think of his actions.]




Volume 654 (3/11/22)

We've got a lot to get to this week before we even get to the talking points. First, we do like a good political joke, so we had to at least mention the local election in Illinois where a Republican named Ashley Gott is running for re-election against... Ashley Gott. Who was known as Erin Perry, right up until she changed her name in early January.

That certainly is a novel tactic to get elected, we have to admit!

To differentiate between them, they newly-named Ashley Gott will appear on the ballot with a line stating she changed her name in January. Seems pretty extreme to get elected county treasurer, but hey -- points for creativity, at least!

Second, we thought about it but decided not to include a talking point that Joe Biden rolled out this week when he announced the ban on Russian gas and oil. He's taken to calling the rise in gasoline prices at the pump for American consumers "Putin's price hike." At first glance this seems interesting, but we kind of wonder if it's going to backfire on Biden since Republicans are already attacking it. So we decided to leave that one for Biden to defend this week instead.

We do have one update from last week's sixth talking point, because it has become clear as day that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is simply not going to punish either of the members of his caucus who appeared at a White supremacist conference. This week, McCarthy -- while admitting that Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar will face no punishment -- had the chutzpah to claim: "There will be no place for what has gone on with that organization. There never will be in this party. It will never be tolerated." Except that, you know... there they are, being tolerated right there within your own party, Kevin.

OK, with all of that out of the way, let's get to this week's list.



Zelenskyy Democrats, Putin Republicans

This first one is also a reprise of a talking point from last week, admittedly, and as always we have to give credit where it is due for superior wordsmithing abilities.

"Representative Sean Patrick Maloney is right, there is really one way to look at the 'debate' -- if you can call it that -- over the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine: I am a Zelenskyy Democrat and I denounce the Putin Republicans who are now doing nothing more than repeating whatever propaganda and lies the Kremlin urges them to. Some are openly praising Vladimir Putin while others merely refuse to condemn him or call him evil. This absolutely disgusts me, since for me the choice is easy -- I stand with Zelenskyy, not with the Republican shamefully standing with Putin."



"Thug?" "Evil?" Really?

Pile on this one in particular.

"Madison Cawthorn just told a group of his supporters that, and I quote because I want to get this right: 'Remember that Zelenskyy is a thug. Remember that the Ukrainian government is incredibly corrupt, and it is incredibly evil.' Unquote. That is despicable. You'd think, in fact, that it would be pretty easy to say so. A Democratic National Committee spokesperson immediately denounced the remarks, saying: 'It's only natural that a Republican Party led by Donald Trump, who regularly praises Vladimir Putin as a "genius" and "savvy" as he launches an unprovoked and unjustified war on the Ukrainian people, would evolve to attack the democratically elected president of Ukraine who has shown true heroism in the face of Russian aggression.' Democrats in the House responded as well: 'Putin Republican shows his true, disgusting colors. Another day, another anti-democracy tirade from the House GOP.' That's all to be expected, I suppose, but what I wonder are where are the Republican voices denouncing Cawthorn's words? Again, it would seem to be a no-brainer to do so, but I hesitate to use the term 'no-brainer' in its usual sense, since we are speaking of a Putin Republican calling the leader of Ukraine 'a thug' and the Ukrainian government 'incredibly evil.' "



And that's not the only thing about him...

He also likes to break the law in his spare time.

"It was revealed this week that very same Madison Cawthorn was pulled over earlier this month in North Carolina for erratic driving and then received a ticket for driving on a revoked license. This is the second time he has been charged for the same offense, in fact. And it's not the only thing on his rap sheet, as he's also facing punishment for being cited driving 89 miles per hour back in October and another for driving 87 miles per hour in January. This is a man who became partially paralyzed because of an auto accident, in case you hadn't realized it. You'd think he'd be a very law-abiding and cautious driver after that experience, but it clearly seems that he thinks traffic safety laws somehow just don't apply to him. Shows his disdain for the rule of law in general, don't you think? What a absolute disgrace of a poor excuse for a congressman."



Oh, you just know they're going to try

This could be very helpful in the midterm campaigns, especially in Senate races.

"Senator Ron Johnson kind of let the cat out of the bag this week, when he admitted that if Republicans retake control of the Senate, that they should 'actually make good on what we established as our priorities.' What does that mean, you wonder? Well, he clarified this in the next sentence, as he laid out how Republicans are still hell-bent on repealing Obamacare. Yep, they've just never given up on this even though tens of millions of Americans would lose their health insurance in an eyeblink if Obamacare was repealed. So for any voters wondering what the Republican agenda will be if they take back control of either chamber of Congress, it's now pretty plain to see what will be pretty near the top of that list: kicking everyone with pre-existing conditions off health insurance for the rest of their lives. That's what Republicans want for the future of this country, folks."



Voter and election fraud rampant... in one party, at least

A clearer case of projection we have never seen.

"Ever since Donald Trump began his world-record-worthy tantrum after losing the last election, the Republican Party has been absolutely obsessed with passing voter-suppression laws in the name of fighting 'voter fraud' and 'election fraud.' The state of Florida just created a dedicated elections police force, in fact. All this despite there being absolutely zero evidence for voter fraud or election fraud on the scale it would take to overturn a single election. Republicans insisted that we had to root out each and every case, though. The only problem is that the cases that keep appearing are of Republicans blatantly committing voter or election fraud. Take the case of the county clerk in Colorado who just got charged with 10 criminal counts for sneaking an unauthorized person in during a secure upgrade to the elections machines under her control -- who then copied all the data, which later wound up in Mike Lindell's hands. Oh, did I mention she's currently running for secretary of state in Colorado? The office which oversees the entire state's elections? But that's not even the worst one to appear this week alone, because it turns out that that voter fraud Trump was so worried about was actually coming from inside the White House! Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, apparently registered to vote in North Carolina at a mobile home that he never owned and most likely never even set foot inside. Which is, of course, illegal. It is, quite plainly, voter fraud. Which isn't a surprise, really, because it always seems like the ones decrying voting fraud the loudest wind up being the only ones guilty of actually committing the crime themselves."



Going around in circles, watching the birdies

We wrote about this one yesterday, if anyone missed it.

"Seems like the so-called 'People's Convoy' turned into a big fat nothingburger. American truckers drove across the country to protest... well... I'm not sure what exactly since there is no vaccine mandate for truckers and the masks have all come off everywhere... but gosh darn it, they were protesting something. Or trying to, at any rate. Seems like a case of monumental bad timing, since the rest of the country has moved on from the pandemic anyway and world events are showing us all what the words 'freedom' and 'tyranny' truly mean. So the truckers are left burning up a bunch of fuel driving in circles while they watch all the people driving next to them flip them the bird. You'd think they'd have better things to do with their time, wouldn't you?"



Grifters gotta grift

Hoo boy, how embarrassing....

"Seems Donald Trump's plane had to turn back in midflight recently, after it lost power in one of its engines. Or maybe that's not strictly accurate, since by 'Donald Trump's plane' I really only mean the one he was flying in at the time -- not that he owned it or anything. Turns out it had been loaned to Trump by a generous donor, because Trump doesn't actually own a plane that can get in the air right now. His old 757 (you know, the one with his name painted in giant letters on the side) has been sitting in a small airport outside of New York City gathering dust and rotting away because Trump didn't bother to pay the upkeep on it while he was president. So he's now sending out fundraising letters begging people for money so he can get what he now apparently calls 'Trump Force One' off the ground again someday. Grifters gotta grift, right? What's truly amusing is Trump was returning from New Orleans, where he was supposed to have dinner with one lucky donor chosen at random -- yet another one of his moneyraising pitches -- but it turns out Trump couldn't even be bothered to do that. No dinner happened, and the shiny prize dangled in front of the marks turned out not to be real. Like I said, grifters gotta grift!"




Chris Weigant blogs at: ChrisWeigant.com
Follow Chris on Twitter: ChrisWeigant
Full archives of FTP columns: FridayTalkingPoints.com

[flying rabbit]

1. K&R. nt